Going Primal

It once again has been weeks since my last post. My afternoons, which I used to use for blogging time, have been recently taken up with graphic design work and doing a Wordpress site, which I've nerded out on completely and had a TON of fun with.  So MUCH fun in fact I'm considering taking my blog over to Wordpress, but I'm a little freaked about the transition...

Anyhow onto my food journey.  My husband was struggling with his diet and I didn't know exactly what to do.  This week at bible study I lifted him up in prayer, when I did so I also asked that they pray that God show me how to help him and support him.

Funny things happen when you pray.  God will push you out of your comfort zone.

Ok, let me get totally real here and yes, I'm gonna air my dirty laundry.  I've always tried to be real here, and it's time for me to make a confession.  I've been a horrible un-supportive wife to my husband.  For over a year now we have both been working out, trying to eat healthier, but I've been kinda smug and nasty about it all.  I've totally thought "this is HIS battle.  He is the one who needs to loose the weight, not me.  I can eat what I want within reason and I won't gain, so why should I quit the foods I love?"

I know people.  I'm ashamed of myself.  VERY ashamed.

So I would still buy the vanilla wafers, the graham crackers, cookies, treats and sweets.  I'd bake brownies on the weekends and smother them in ice cream and caramel syrup.  I'd make cookies when I felt like it and claimed that it was for the children.  I'd buy fruit snacks, chips and cookies and explain it was for the kids lunch.

Even though I was cooking grilled chicken for dinner with broccoli and salads, and offering some healthy choices in there, there were still cookies in the pantry.  It was like blowing smoke rings into someones face that was desperately trying to quit.  I didn't even realize what I was doing.

So, as I prayed. God began to reveal to me how I'd been behaving.  Not only has he revealed this but he gave me a desire to take our whole family into a Paleo/Primal lifestyle.  (if you haven't heard of it, you can see what it is about here) We can't do it if we all don't do it together.  I can't expect Jamin and I to eat one way and the kids to still have all kinds of grains and sugar in there just calling out to us.

I repented.  I apologized.  I'm trying to change.

As I started scouring the internet looking for recipes and snacks I became more motivated.  My BIGGEST concern was the kids lunches.  What on EARTH would I send with them if I couldn't give them a sandwich in their lunch box?

So I started Googling Paleo kids lunches and came up with quite a few great ideas:

www.paleoparents.com

www.everydaypaleo.com

Look at those cute little cucumber sandwiches!  Rolled lunch meats, little smokies, apples, pickles, olives, etc...

I came up with a schedule of meals for them next week.  I think the biggest challenge for the kids will be cereal and bread.  Lucy eats a PB&J sandwich EVERY day.  She is my most picky eater.  Evie won't have a problem with the fruits and veggies, but she doesn't really like eggs, so that will make breakfast difficult.  I plan to try this breakfast hash and seeing if that will satisfy her:

I've also found some recipes that use coconut flour and almond flour in lieu of white flour so I can try my hand at some Paleo pancakes and waffles.  We will see how it goes!  I'm gonna try making my own almond meal because I just don't feel like forking over $9.99 a pound for it at Whole Foods. 

I'm considering buying my own coconut to make coconut flakes, but depending on the cost I may or may not go this far.  Since I'm doing more primal than Paleo I am going to keep SOME dairy in our diet, but very very little.  For the most part Jamin and I will go without but I do plan on having some in there.  For dairy I'm going for hormone free, full fat dairy (rather than organic because of cost).  Braums milk is very good and hormone free, and their eggs are also cage free I believe!  Later this summer hopefully we can get a freezer and buy a side of grass fed beef from Jamin's uncle.  For now I'll keep buying the Fit and Active from Aldi.  It's not organic, but it's "natural" which is the next best thing and means it's free of hormones.

Anyhow I'm not sure if we can be 100% strict and I'm not sure I want to be crazy strict, I believe you do need to allow yourself some freedom now and again, but for now I'm getting ALL the junk out of my house and I think that will get us eating good like 95% of the time. 

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, I'm hoping that this will be a REALLY positive change for our family.

Cutting the Cord on Cable

img from hediacomputers.com via shutterstock

For a while now we have been seriously toying with the idea of canceling our cable TV. I know, crazy right?

Off and on my husband would mention canceling cable when things got tight and I would go into freak out mode. You know ladies, when you and your husband have the dreaded "budget meeting." Gawd I hate budget meetings.

Eventually my tears and whining would win out and we would drop the subject.

About a year ago though when Netflix started getting better and better about their streaming library, I started to give it some more serious thought.

Still though I thought I couldn't live life without a DVR, and also CBS shows were not on Netflix or Hulu.

So, we started toying with the idea of how we could cut the cord, and started working in that direction.

Our first step was to get an old tower and hooked it up to our upstairs TV. We have been streaming up there for more than six months. We tried out Boxee, which comes with an app for the iPhone which gave us a remote (which was nice not having to get up and click the mouse for each new episode or to search Netflix). However we noticed some glitches. Boxee doesn't show EVERYTHING in our Netflix queue. We didn't like that. Also it doesn't list the episodes in order.

Seriously folks my OCD was kicking into overdrive without the episodes in chronological order. I thought I'd pull my hair out.

Boxee did allow us to subscribe to shows like BBT through CBS, however it was really slow streaming, and we were not thrilled with the quality of it. Much better to exit the Boxee system and just go to the actual site through the browser.

We kind of gave up on cutting the cord for a bit, the Holidays came around and life just got too busy to work on the TV stuff.

However each month when that Cox bill would come in the mail, I would ask myself WHY? Why do I keep paying them $80 a month for something that we could easily get for next to nothing?

So, two weeks ago we got serious about this.

I ordered a free trial of Hulu plus and would you know the VERY day I did this Hulu Plus got an app for the Wii?  Our timing couldn't have been better.

I don't like their interface as much as the Netflix interface for the Wii, but they JUST came out with it.  I'm sure it will take some time to get the glitches out of it.

Next, I called Cox and found out how low our bill would go and they talked about "data caps".  A word I had not yet heard.

Data caps?  Are you FREAKING serious?  We have a 200GB a month data limit on our internet.  My heart sank.  We could increase that limit by upping to premier or ultimate package, but what was the point?  We were trying to SAVE money, not spend more.

I thought at that point again our journey to cancel cable was over, however after some research it seems that 200GB will give you about 32 HD movies a month or 500 SD shows.  That's like a LOT of TV people, about 5 or more hours a day if not more, and yes, that is how long the TV blares in our house at times on our bad days.

So, I started looking at our data usage and we stopped using cable over the weekend.  We streamed LITERALLY all day yesterday on both TV's and ended up using under 5GB.  That keeps us well under our allowance monthly.

This past weekend my husband made an HD antenna this weekend. It is very similar to THIS antenna. It's up in our attic and you can't even see it. Our picture quality is just as good if not better than cable.  We are getting all our local channels on both TV's just fine.

There are still some more issues to work out but we will do that along the way.

1.  I don't like having a huge tower in my bedroom hooked to my TV, so eventually what I think we will do is move it to a closet one day. My husband plans to get a video capture card (I think that's what it is...he is the techie on this). With that we can record our HD shows like HIMYM, BBT and CSI etc...all off the air in HD.

Our next step is to get a ROKU box.  It will be much better looking than the tower in our room, and it will give us a remote that we can use.

Img from ROKU.com

Roku seems to perform better than Boxee does as far as an interface according to reviews.  It will take a bit of money to sink into getting our system where we want it, but it the long run it should pay off.

2.  We can't watch CBS through Hulu Plus or Netflix.  ALL my favorite shows seem to be on that channel, so for now I have to watch them on the iMac or else up in our bedroom with the tower (because I can do that through the browser).  They stream a bit slower through CBS than they do on Hulu or Netflix.  Seriously CBS, get with the program!  However I think when we get the capture card, hopefully we can just record these to the hard drive and Roku will let us pull them up.  Again, we are still working on it.

Still, when i made that call to Cox today I was a little paniced and scared.  Cable has been our crutch for YEARS now.  In fact funny thing was my job BEFORE I was a stay at home mom was working in retention for Cox.  Yeah, I was the gal who would try to convince you to KEEP your cable and I got paid WELL to do it.

However the deed is done.  The cable is GONE.

I mean, what will I do if I can't watch mindless hours of House Hunters International on HGTV when I'm sick in bed?  Or what about that evening on the sofa watching VH1's top 100 one hit wonders of the nineties?  And yes, I'll miss my hours upon hours of Nick at Night reruns of Friends.  Who knows, maybe I'll read a book or something or actually GET SOME SLEEP?  Go figure.

Anyhow, if you are thinking about cutting the cord ask me any questions and I'll be happy to fill you in on what we do.  Also I'll keep you posted on our updates to our system!

A Bet is a Bet

A bet is a bet, and although I would have LOVED to get over a thousand hits on that blog post, I think this is even better.

For those of you who missed it, you can read that post here.

Thankfully my husband is such a sport. And a bit of a ham.

 

When he is NOT goofing off, he really does help me like crazy around this house.

 

And even though he is a total GOOF sometimes, I'm so thankful that he makes me laugh.  

A LOT.

 

Even though he is a bit of a ham....he is the best husband and daddy this family could ever ask for.

Thank you babe for bringing me so much laughter, and for being such a good sport. 

The Ultimate Pinterest and Blogging web post ever crafted!

Lately, all I've been talking about to my husband is my blog.  Today was no exception.  He is always trying to give me advice on how I should run my blog.  I usually don't listen.  


My husband has been moping around the house today pretty bored.


He said to me "I bet I can get you a thousand hits on your blog."


I laughed, rolled my eyes "whatever."


"I'm serious."  he said, "I can get you a thousand hits."  He then told me his plan.  I laughed so hard I had tears rolling down my face.  So I said go for it.  So here it is my husbands guest post on my blog.

Jamin's Ultimate Pinterest and Blogging web post ever crafted!

Step 1 "Find some old piece of garbage!"

Step 2 " Paint it White!  Oil rubbed bronze, or for super effect, BOTH!"

They paint everything white.  Not sure why.

Step 3 "Gather Yarn, Pipe Cleaners, a toilet paper roll and cloth for flowers, colorful decoration, etc."

Step 4  - "Hot glue that sucker!!!"

Step 5 - " Add a 'Girlie Word' to it.  Girls love that stuff."

Step 6 - "Show an unconventional use for a conventional item"

Wash your dishes with a hose! Using an old insecticide sprayer!

Step 7 - The Reveal "Before and After".  Move that BUS!  Move that BUS!

*** NOTE - My husband hereby retains all the rights and royalties to any such famousness that may erupt for such a mega-awesome super DIY project!****

*** P.S. If this blog post receives 1,000 or more views, Julie forthwith promises to give her husband a foot rub.  Failure to received 1,000 page views within 7 days will result in said (awesome) husband doing the dishes whilst in an apron (awesomely, of course).  Photographic results of either thine foot rub or the awesome dish-washing must be posted withing 24 hours on this here blog! 

Home Made Harry Potter Broom

So my son has been wanting a Quiddich broom from Harry Potter to play around in, but I wasn't too into all the cheap looking plastic ones, and the more realistic ones came with a pretty hefty price tag. My husband and I decided that we could make one ourselves and so we got to it.

The first thing my husband did was go out and find a large branch that was about the right size and shape of a broom. Silly me forgot to take a photo of the branch, but that would have been nice, wouldn't it? (I'm still getting used to doing these DIY tutorials so please forgive me).

Sorry.

Anyhow my husband started stripping away with his knife to get all the bark off of the tree branch and get it to some sort of shape. Once he did that he sanded it like CRAZY and got it silk smooth and to the right shape.

We were not trying to go for a prop replica.  Our son is only TEN and he will probably wear this thing out playing with it, we just wanted something similar for him to goof around with! I found  GREAT tutorial online here at Instructables, but it was WAY after we had all ready been building ours.  Anyhow, it's a great post so I recommend you check it out!

We stained it first with a dark walnut stain, then went over it with some Java gel stain.

I then went to Hobby Lobby and found some Prairie Grass for $9.99 (minus 40% off coupon) that I thought would work for the bristles of the broom.

I grabbed an old towel and curtain that I was no longer in need of to wrap it as padding and give it the shape underneath that it needed.  You could also use foam or styrofoam.  I just went for what I had on hand.

 

 

After I got the general shape of it my husband and I added the prairie grass to it and taped it.  There MAY or MAY not have been a slight argument about how to get it to stay on there properly.  I really need to stop questioning his judgment.  The man is always right.  (Please don't tell him I said that though.)

We taped it on there as a temporary hold then went and got pipe clamps to clamp the top and the bottom and screw it on tight.  My husband then COATED the thing in spray adhesive to get it to stick, cut off the top and bottom of the bristles to make it even, then wrapped it in twine.  If I had to do anything over again, it would be that I would have taken the time like the guy on Instructables did to painstakingly put on the bristles, but we were running out of time nearing Christmas eve, so we went for a quick fix.  Also, this is a kids TOY and I'm certain one day we will be replacing the bristles on it.  When we do that I may change some things up.

Next I went and added "Nimbus 2000" in gold paint on the handle.

Then last added a coat of polyurethane to the handle and it was complete!  Someday we may go back and add the footrests, but for now, he is perfectly happy with it how it is, and the total project cost us less than $10.00 to complete for a pretty awesome gift!

I think he was pretty thrilled with his gift!

My Christmas Present

Let me start out by saying that I have truly the most loving, kind, thoughtful husband on the planet. I really don't deserve such a wonderful man, and all the credit that he gives me. I also truly don't give him the credit that he deserves for all that he does and the man that he is.

Either that or he is a total evil genius that pawned his gift giving onto someone else ;) I kid...I kid. He really IS a total sweetheart.  Also, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Back in September he told me that he had gotten me the best Christmas present ever, but he couldn't tell me what it was. He said (and I quote) "It's better than a car in the driveway."

REALLY? Because I know our budget, and I just can't see how anything like that is possible.

So, for FOUR yes FOUR months I've been trying to keep this out of my mind, otherwise it would pretty much drive me crazy.

He would give me hints along the way, telling me it's great because not of the money that it would/wouldn't cost, but that it shows he really knows me.

Then about a week ago he gave me one last hint he said "I don't know what your present is."

This really stumped me. What POSSIBLY could he get me, that he doesn't know what it is and shows that he knows me well. I guessed it was a blank canvas, or something to do with some kind of improvement project that I would have to complete and that is how he didn't know what it was.

I could have NEVER in a MILLION years guessed what it was.

Finally Christmas morning he told me that several months ago he wrote three of my favorite bloggers, told them how awesome I was, and how much I enjoyed their blogs, and asked if they would send me a letter, note or if my husband could purchase something crafted by them, because it would mean the world to me.

So he wrote Sarah, from Thrifty Decor Chick, Ashley from Make it and Love it and Ana White. They all sent me gifts and notes.  This would almost be the equivalent of me contacting Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs (whom I kid is my husbands man crush), Norm Abrams (New Yankee Workshop) and Mike Holmes and the Mythbusters and getting stuff from each of them for my husband.

I was VERY happy. I was REALLY shocked. I was a teeny bit embarrassed (I mean, I don't want them to think I'm some crazy weirdo stalker or something).  Most of all I was in awe of how much my husband really knows me and the trouble him and these wonderful ladies went to for me.

I mean, these women, what they have done is inspire me. They have taught me that I can take something on a small budget and make it beautiful. Their homes and projects have truly inspired me. So because I go around the house saying "These are my heroes, if they can do it so can I" and talking about them all the time and their ideas that inspire me, and my husband listened (although I'm pretty sure he didn't he didn't have a choice.  I talk a LOT). He did the sweetest most kindest gesture by showing he loves me and knows me, and these wonderful women opened their heart to me and showed they cared too. I feel overwhelmed and totally grateful that they would take time out of their BUSY schedules to send me something. Oh, and they didn't charge my husband a penny, not even for shipping. That's how awesome these ladies are.

(*disclaimer, this are about the WORST photos of me EVER and I can't believe I'm blogging them, but I really wanted my TRUE reaction about the gifts so here goes it...also sorry they are blurry, I blame the man for that one, and I swear these photos make me look like I've gained back the 15 pounds that I've recently lost.  SIGH.  Most unflattering photos EVER).

Sarah from TDC sent me my own hot pink tool belt embroidered on it "TDC Squeezy"(thats ME), and a sweet hand written card.  The fact that she said in the card that my dining room looked amazing was a HUGE compliment (like I may of passed out for a second or two).  I go around all the time telling my husband TDC is my hero.  She totally is.  She has the most kicking amazing blog ever, she is GREAT when it comes to decor on the cheap.  She has a heart for Goodwill treasures that is almost as big as mine ;)  Also she does it all while shoveling her way out of a pile of debt.  It's SO good to have her as inspiration that I CAN make my home beautiful while staying on track with our budget and our plan.  Someday just like her we will call up Dave and SCREAM "WERE DEBT FREE!!!!"

Ashley from Make it and Love it sent me Itsy Bitsy Spider that she featured on her blog recently, and an autographed photo (which she is probably still shaking her head over that one thinking we are a bit NUTS and possibly a stalker).  I have an idea of where to hang Itsy Bitsy Spider (It will most likely go in my kiddos bathroom when we do the renovation this spring), but I'm still shaking my head on what to do with the autographed photo of her....I think my husband was going more for maybe a signed shirt or something. Too cute.

Ashley, if you read this, I SWEAR I'm not a crazy stalker/obsessed fan. We are honestly FAIRLY normal people.  The photo DID make me smile. Thanks for all your inspiration. ;)  Your blog was the first that got me really into the DIY blogging world.  Thanks so much.

I have NO idea if that is why Ana White featured me on her blog this month as her featured builder, or if it was just a coincidence because I uploaded my kitchen plans to her site, either way, I can't believe with her being in the middle of building the momplex that she would stop and send me a gift card and a Christmas card. She is a total rock star and I think she is awesome. I mean first of all she lives in Alaska and she is out there in weather I would freeze my tush off in building things with power tools and looking all adorable while doing it.   I plan on building another one of her plans with the gift she sent me. Now just to decide which one, kids bunk beds, entryway storage bench, my computer desk....my list goes on and on...

So thanks Jamin, my wonderful husband and evil genius, and a few of my heroes in the blogging world Sarah, Ana and Ashley. You guys truly all ROCK.

Santa's Workshop: Year Two

Well we have been at it again (or should I say my husband has). This time it's for our boy. We are SUPER stoked about how these gifts are turning out this year, I LOVE LOVE LOVE making home made gifts. It's SO much fun.

Can you guess what we are making Bubby for Christmas?

Here is a hint:

 

Any ideas yet?

Ok, ok just ONE more hint.

I can't wait.  I'm just GIDDY about this gift. 

The Dining Room

I've known for a while that I wanted to re-paint my dining room, but it was pretty low on the priority list, but I decided to move it up because of company coming in for Thanksgiving.

I've gone back and forth the past few weeks, do I do it or not. I wasn't sure I wanted to undertake ANOTHER project right before the Holidays, but every time I walked into the room and saw my girls "artwork" on the walls and the scuffed up oak trim I would just cringe. It just looked DIRTY.

Finally I talked with my husband, who was totally in for it and I went for it. (his side will say that I MAY have caught him over IM while he was in the middle of a server crash at work, and used that to my advantage).

It has taken me over a week. Scuffing up the oak trim (to give it tooth), oil primer (because of the oil poly on the current trim), then paint. When we first moved into this house I LOVED all the trim work and crown molding it had, I just didn't care for the color of the stain. It was this orangey oak. If it was darker it would have been fine, but I just didn't like the color. I prefer white trim. I love the contrast of white trim on a colored wall, it just looks bright and clean and crisp.  Also with kids CONSTANTLY scuffing it up, I can just keep a can of trim paint on hand and touch up when needed.

After we moved in, I looked at my husband and said "I want to switch all the trim in the house to white."

He looked at me like I was nuts. He said kindly "That is a LOT of work."

I said "It won't be THAT bad."

Famous last words of a fool.

I have like THOUSANDS of feet of dark trim in this house. It's going to take me forever.

It's totally worth it in the long run though.  I LOVE the white trim, even though my arms are STILL aching from working on that crown molding.

Anyhow, the dining room is done, and hopefully after the Holidays we will move to the living room, do the built in/mantel on the fireplace and get that room next!

Here are the before and afters! Enjoy!

This was our OLD dining table, about three years ago (its the best before shot I have).

Here is our new table, but we hadn't got the chairs yet.  Still a pretty old photo.

Here is a more current photo of the room, after the furniture is moved out.

The before photos really do NOT show how bad the walls and trim really looked.  The walls were drawn on by my kiddos, and I tried magic eraser, but that left spots on the wall, it was pretty bad.  Here is the after with all my Thanksgiving decor!

This is at night, before I added my chairs back to the room.  We decided to leave the blinds off the windows, it looks so much better that way!

Daytime photo

My thanksgiving decor on the table!  Repainted the mirror white.  I'm glad I finally found a spot for the white shelves I had!

My homemade napkin rings (made from toilet paper rolls) and placards

My 90% off decor from Hobby Lobby and dollar store candle holders!  Waiting till the last minute pays off.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I was worried I wouldn't get it finished and I was painting up until Tuesday before Thanksgiving!  I'm glad we decided to go ahead and do it, and I'm glad I went with the bold color!  I love it, love it, love it!

*UPDATE*

I love it so much I'm submitting it to a few blogs to try and get featured, right now I have about UM, 5 readers that actually read my blog (I kid, I kid....) but seriously I'd love to get some traffic to my site.

I'm hoping to get featured in Beneath My Heart "best DIY Projects of November".  I LOVE this gal.  Every morning when I open up my Google reader I'm anxious to see what she has posted, and you guys have GOT to read her whole kitchen renovation story!  It's great!  I can SO relate!

*UPDATE* 04/16/2012
 Linking up with TDC: